CJ Policymaking Chap. 2

Due process perspective

a belief that the key aim of criminal justice policy is the protection of due process and peoples rights even if crime control suffers

Crime control perspective

A belief that the key aim of criminal justice policy is the control of crime, perhaps at the expense of individual liberties and due process protections

system and non-system perspectives

CJ system is a well-oiled machine (system) vs a disorganized mess (non-system)

political perspectives

leading ideological views with respect to crime control in America

Four operational perspectives of CJ system

1. Due process and crime control

2. System and Nonsystem

3. Funnel model of justice

4. Wedding cake

Who created the Due process and Crime control perspective framework?

Herbert Packer (1968)

Examples of crime control values

1. CJ system should be an assembly line (fast, efficient)

2. quantity of quality

3. favors informality

4. has faith in the police

5. makes presumption of guilt

6. seeks to benefit society

7. concerned with ends, not means

8. seeks to maximize police authority

9. seeks to control crime at all costs

10. emphasis on factual guilt

Examples of Due process values

1. obstacle course metaphor

2. emphasizes quality of quantity

3. prefers formality

4. faith in courts

5. presumption of innocence

6. seeks to benefit suspects

7. concerned with means, not ends

8. maximize human freedom

9. protect people’s rights at all costs

10. emphasis on legal guilt

legal guilt

whether a person is guilty according to the law

factual guilt

whether a person actually committed the crime with which she or he is charged

old-idealism

view that the components of the justice system work well together and rigidly adhere to their organizational missions.

Funnel model of Justice

In 1967, Johnson administration created a flow chart of CJ process

CJ process begins with crime then ends with some cases leave the system (probation)

progressive reduction in the number of cases as it goes through CJ phases

Shows that there is a great connection between CJ agencies

Wedding Cake CJ

A model of the criminal process emphasizing how cases are processed. Top layer cases are the fewest in number and receive the full gamut of the Cj process while the lowest level cases are the greatest in number, receive quick and informal processing

What determines whether a case ends up in the second or third layer of the wedding cake?

1. the relationship between the victim and the offender

2. the seriousness of the offense

3. the defendants prior record

What are the four layers in the CJ wedding cake?

1. Celebrated cases (Michael Jackson, p diddy, menendez)

2. Serious felonies (murder, homicide)

3. Not-so-serious felonies

4. Misdemeanors

The fourth layer of the wedding cake is most representative of the ____ nature of CJ in the U.S.

true nature

on the far left, we find what type of political thinkers?

Conflict thinkers

Liberal perspective

with respect to crime control, an emphasis on the protection of people’s rights and liberties. corresponds closely with a due process perspective

Conservative perspective

With respect to crime control, an emphasis on tough punishment and crime control (corresponds closely with crime control orientation).

What to most conservatives, is the cause of crime?

The product of individual choice (many tend to favor the rational choice theory, which Is a classical theory of criminology), they favor deterrence-based policy

Liberals believe that crime is a product not of individual choices but of what?

environmental factors (positivistic criminology, positivistic paradigm)

A middle-of-the-road take on liberal and conservative explanation of crime would be what?

people make rational decisions but their rationality is limited by environmental factors

Both liberals and conservatives believe that there is some ____ on what is wright and wrong

general consensus

Conservatives tend not to prioritize what CJ programs or policies?

prevention, early intervention, and other strategies that are thought to discourage crime before it is committed

Liberals tend to favor what strategies as opposed to conservatives?

treatment, rehabilitation, job training, and other prevention-oriented methods of addressing crime

Consensus perspective

a set of beliefs that (1) certain norms and values are the core elements of social life, (2) people are committed to a certain social order, (3) solidarity is evident in the interaction between people of all groups (4) everyone willingly submits to a legitimate authority, typically the government

What is the opposite of the consensus view? define it

Conflict perspective: a belief that self-interest, coercion, division, opposition, exclusion, hostility, sectional interests, political power, contradictions, and other such factors best describe social interactions

What is the cause of crime according to consensus supporters?

criminal behavior results from the fact that some people get socialized into criminal behavior, aka, the failure of major agencies of socialization (school, family, work, church)

According to Conflict supporters, what is the cause of crime?

the tension that capitalism creates between the working class and the bourgeoisie leads to crime (criminal law reflects not the consensus of society but the interests of the elite)

What is ideology in Marxism?

a state of false consciousness among the ruled that makes them think that their own interests and those of the ruling class are the same

According to Walker, in CJ, what usually triumphs over facts?

faith (both liberals and conservatives have certain assumptions that are almost religious-like and are not supported by empirical evidence (evidence you can see)

Nils Christie’s book, Crime Control as Industry presents what controversial argument?

one of the forces that drive criminal justice in the United States is money (private prisons, local agencies obsessed with profit (ticketing people)

Academics are often described derisively as ______ who have little connection to the real world

ivory tower types

Many of academic’s approaches to crime are not _____

politically feasible by most politicians

some believe that the CJ system should prioritize deterrence (or preventing crime) while others believe that it should prioritize _____

retribution (criminals get their just deserts) incapacitation

Specific deterrence

deterrence which targets offenders already sentenced (discourages them from committing additional crimes due to his or her incarceration)

General deterrence

Discourage society as a whole from getting involved in criminal behavior due to the harshness of incarceration (he’s in prison for 100 years, I don’t want that, so I wont commit crime)

Absolute deterrence

the belief that the collective actions of the criminal justice system on the whole discourage criminality

Marginal deterrence

Incremental changes in the deterrability of crime due to changes in various dimensions of the criminal justice system and process (things like hiring more police officers)

three reasons why crime control might not have a general deterrence effect

1. deterrence assumes that offenders are knowledgeable (but most lack the ability to associate crime with punishment)

2. offenders often have substance abuse problems (diminishes ability to rationally calculate crime)

3. the criminal justice system has a poor track record of catching lawbreakers (fewer than 50% of crimes result in the arrest of a suspect)

retribution

a goal of criminal justice concerned with punishing criminals on the basis of the severity of their crimes

just deserts

the punishment an offender “deserves” that which one deserves

deterrence and other goals are not of interest to ____ advocates

retribution advocates because these goals distract from what they think is the core purpose of crime control: proportionate punishment

Retribution is limited in two ways

1. its core concern is with proportional punishment but there is much evidence that punishments are not decided solely on the basis of the seriousness of the offense (race influences it too)

2. it is myopic, it is only concerned with past behavior and not with the possibility of preventing future crime

Incapacitation

removing criminals from society, usually through incarceration (or sometimes through home confinement, electronic monitoring or a similar method of restraint)

Incapacitation is limited for two reasons

1. it is costly, locking away offenders takes an enormous amount of resources

2. it ignores the possibility that offenders can change and be reformed

rehabilitation

a planned intervention intended to change behavior

what are the four goals of crime control according to a famous Pennsylvania supreme court case (Commonwealth v. Ritter)

Rehabilitation, retribution, deterrence, incapacitation